Posted by Travlr (anonymous) on February 8, 2010 at 11:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I would really like to have those glasses once they are removed, so i can install them here at home. And then i wont have to listen to my nagging wife all the time.

Posted by 1oldman (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 5:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Would you be going to build a fancy new dog house, or had you thought that far ahead?

Posted by REK1138 (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 7:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)

The sheer number of dirt roads in Chilton County is a joke. When I have family and friends visit from other parts of the country I often take them on a drive down some of Chilton's finest roadways. This, after all, is the view of the south of the many of them have - antiquated plank bridges that would look more at home in the 1930's, miles and miles of densely populated dirt roads that should have been paved decades ago, places where residents are actually expected to ford creeks to get to their homes. Since no county commission in the last 30 years has seemed interested in dragging these large portions of Chilton County into the 20th century maybe they ought to consider marketing Chilton County as a tourist attraction - "Come to Chilton County, See What It Was Like To Travel in a Bygone Era! Cross Bridges in your SUV Built for Horses and Buggies! Ford Creeks and Dodge Massive Mud Filled Potholes!!!" We could make millions then, ahem, maybe pave these roads?

Posted by BLogical (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 7:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Maybe, I should buy a cheaper peice of property in the middle of nowwhere, then complain because the roads are not equal to the roads in a more populated and valuable area. There are always trade offs. Fix the roads, reappraise the property, then raise the land tax; there is an option.

Posted by fshrman (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 8 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Having lived in Chilton Co in the past and visiting several times a year the problem is clear from the outside. Tell me the last time people voted in major changes in elected officials. You won't vote for increased taxes because you don't trust who you have, and continue, to elect. Chilton Co is a wonderful place full of great people. There seems to be the attitude that we don't want things to change; except better jobs, roads, schools, politicians. This doesn't happen w/out increased cost somewhere and a wholesale change in leadership. You do have some good politicians, just to few.

Posted by opinions1 (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 10:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)

In my opinion, which everybody has got one, the people who are responsible for fixing the roads, are good about tearing them up by doing what they think needs repaired, (such as digging up the pavement to fix a water line, etc), but they absolutely SUCK at properly fixing the road back!! It seems like they could care less about fixing the road back and properly paving it thick, so that pot holes don't appear the next day! I can definitely speak for Co.Rd. 625 that I travel on everyday. They tore up that road about 6-8 months ago by digging up the road in a certain spot and now there are HUGE pot holes all at that specific area where they tore the road up!! If you don't come to a complete stop and try to "dodge" the holes, (that you can plant a freakin' tree in), then you will definitely tear up your vehicle! I have called and reported this road several times to the county road dept and they have yet to fix those holes. I am seriously thinking about buying some small trees and setting them in the pot holes at that certain area!
Just because I feel like it! I know there are many other roads, besides the one I travel on, in this county that need fixing. It just seems like our roads are not a priority for the county road dept. "Wearren said highway department crews are working 7 days a week, weather permitting." What are they doing these 7 days a week? Not fixing roads, that's for sure!! Probably standing around trying to analyze everything and not actually working to fix the problems! I'm sorry if I come across very stern about this topic, but I am really frustrated with our sucky county road dept. system that we have!!

Posted by opinions1 (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 10:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Also, Co.Rd. 231 is the same way as I just described above!

Posted by wlpowell63 (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 12:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

But here is the real truth. All dirt roads in Chilton County are in terrible shape. My father that lives down in Mt. Creek the dirt roads there are the worst. But the commissioners say that they don't have the money to do such that. BS. If they wanted money to keep up the county, then go wet. Get the revenue and just maybe we can shut some of the preachers mouths up and let the people decide to do so and have enough of tax money to keep it up. What a person says in one of the forums that I go to? I believe it when they say, "You are weak". Yes, Chilton County is weak. So if you are really fed up about the dirt roads not being maintained, then you should ask the commissioners, "Do I have a name"?

Posted by tellmeitaintso (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 12:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Amen about Co. Rd. 231

Posted by co24op04er (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I know we have alot of dirt roads ,but have you checked out our paved roads? The only ones that are decent are in the city limits, and hwy 31. If you're one of the lucky ones to travel co. rd 7 every day you know thats like playing chicken, trying to dodge a hole that could cause you to be in the on coming traffic's lane. I've been told it's all the big truck traffic that causes it , well don't they pay a tax or something thats supose to help take care of the roads? Who's resposible if you wreck because of the holes, will the county pay for your vehicle to be fixed if you tare up something because of their neglect?

Posted by sassychic1 (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 3:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)

what about (state) hwy 145? from the 212 exit pretty much to the county line is really bad,it appears they threw some stuff in the holes and forgot to level it off and up until last week there was a pothole at the 212 bridge so big i busted a tire after hitting it,you think the county or should i say the state will pay for me a new one?i don't think so.also unless some changes are made the road i live on will be even worst here before long because i live on the road to the rodeo and i can barely make it out of it in my small car,everyday i tell my kids to hold on we are going mud riding in the daewoo,and the over flow goes straight into my yard so we have to park at the end of the driveway and walk a good 300 feet to my house through the water and mud to get in the house.in short if changes are not made there will be alot of pissed off people with horse trailers.what are our tax dollars going to?not the roads for sure.

Posted by MomOf2 (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 3:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I will second CR 231...

Posted by Tommy (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 3:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Sassy, actually you can call the Maplesville ALDOT Office and file a complaint concerning your tire, I know when I worked for the State in Birmingham we handled complaints such as this and often payed for repairs, the process may have changed in the past 10 years but I do know there was a way to file a claim such as yours. But 145 is a State road and the Chilton County doesn't have any control over that, thank goodness because it might actually be worse.

They did put some asphalt in the potholes on CR 7 this week, any bets on how long it stays? I say less than 7 days. Asphalt on top of mud won't last.

Posted by pheadley (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 4:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

County Road 59 from the 4-way where it connects from 24, all the way down to Stuckey's.

Posted by watchdog (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 5:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"will the county pay for your vehicle to be fixed if you tare up something"
"the road i live on will be even worst here before long"
"there will be alot of pissed off people with horse trailers"
"i tell my kids to hold on we are going mud riding in the daewoo"

I can't believe this entertainment is free!

Posted by TandCGoats (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 6:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)

This is how the Chilton Co. Road dept has been working 7 days a week. To fix a broken concrete drain pipe: Bring out the backhoe, a load of dirt and a pickup. In the pickup are three men, who are watching the backhoe. In the dump truck are two men watching the backhoe, then the backhoe operator. Instead of digging up the broken pipe and putting in a shiny new one, the backhoe packs dirt on top of the broken pipe. Result: dirt washed down the broken pipe, road still not fixed. 4hours, 6 people of which one was actually working. Yes, I want to vote for a tax increase. Yeah, right!

Posted by nanny444 (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 6:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The road problem in Chilton County is worse than I remember in my lifetime. The problem is there is not much hope for improvement at hand.

When the weather gets better it will take months just to get the roads back passable again.

The materials the road deptartment puts down just seems to keep going down. All this is costing more and more money. Money that will run out soon unless something next to a miracle happens. There is some ray of hope that some disaster money might be available, but we all know how slow the Government operates.

Then there is the problem of not enough personnel and equipment to even halfway cover the county in normal conditions. Not to mention that all the equipment is in dire need of replacing.

I personally don't think that the county going wet would make a great difference since before long all the towns will be wet. I would like to see the citizens have the right to vote on it.

At this point in time since people see how bad the roads are a sales tax might pass even with the state of the economy. Even though we are already taxed to death an extra cent could make a tremendous difference in our roads. With a sales tax EVERYONE would contribute whether they are county citizens or not.

I believe the only way the sales tax would have a chance of passing is if the commissioners assured the citizens that the tax would go towards roads and bridges and could not be used for anything else. The commissioners are also going to have to make a strong effort to make the people understand and believe in a tax. A major first step would be to have ONE person in charge of the funds created from a one cent sales tax. DO NOT let any or all commissioners have the authority to move the funds around as they see fit. We already have a qualified County Administrator that is in charge of the Commission office...why not let her handle the funds or the County engineer, Tony Wearren? Both know the workings of the road department well and where the monies could most efficiently be spent. That would eliminate politics playing such a huge roll in determining the priority of projects. The point system on roads could become an actuality.

Will all this happen? I seriously doubt it.

I foresee that the citizens of the county will be working their own roads somewhere in the near future.

Posted by pheadley (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 6:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I'm all for some state-run lottery. Thatd get some money which could be used for things such as this.

Posted by nanny444 (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 8:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

TandCGoats; The incident you described should be brought to the attention of the Engineer.

Call the County Engineer's office and give specifics.

Give time, date, and road number.He will address the issue and find out the facts.

Posted by mrjones0913 (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 8:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

First the roads in the county are in disrepair and it will take a lot of time and a lot of money to repair them. I have watched several of our fine road department employees at work and money will run out before time with them. The county is almost to the breaking point on funds now. I have stated here in the past that I would support a tax increase but I have a little change of mind first. I think that the commission should reevaluate all the money they have in the budget and every department head needs to be held accountable for every dollar then we can see why the money is running short.

Posted by 67MUSTANGGT (anonymous) on February 9, 2010 at 9:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Watchdog, I agree! If they hated America so much as to even look at a Daewoo, they deserve a washed out road. At least the accelerator won't stick on that particular rat wagon as it splashes through the mud.

Do you think the education level is directly proportionate to the choice of living arrangements and decision making process that sassychic has displayed here? Just a thought.

Posted by opinions1 (anonymous) on February 10, 2010 at 9:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)

TandCGoats---You hit the nail on the head about that! I definitely agree with you on 6 people being out on on a job area and only one actually doing the work while the other 5 stand around with their finger up their butt watching! That's why they don't get any work done in the county, be/c only one is doing the work! I talked to the secretary at the engineer's office today be/c I was filing a complaint about some county roads. She said that the county is doing all they can do with the equipment and the money that they have to do it with. They know a lot of people are mad, but she said there's not much they can do.....so like nanny444 said: I foresee that the citizens of the county will be working their own roads somewhere in the near future. I may start planting some trees! lol

Posted by jessicapayne (anonymous) on February 10, 2010 at 4:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I see there are so many concerns here and glad to see everyone is stateing the facts. I want to say even if there wasn't a rain issue our COUNTY DIRT ROADS have always been awful. They should be ashamed the way these roads are. The only time they ever run a road grader over them is the day before a rain and sometimes if we get that lucky. We have gone several and I mean several months before with out having our road graded. And even then it would be because bless my Grandfathers heart who can't even drive now would call and complain to Tim Mims. Now, My uncle has had to make several trips to Tim's office and ask him to send someone out. There have been times when they have just brought out a load of red mud dumped it on the washed out spots and then the next day when it rains you can't even get down the road without sliding all over the road and hoping you don't go off in the ditch. Talking about working the roads ourselves its already being done down here on Co. RD. 332 sometimes when it get so bad. Our school buses come up and down these roads with children and its not very safe. Do you think they would drive there family cars down these roads ummm nope their not and don't have to so it dosen't matter to county. We moved back in with my mom last year while we remodel our house and before I didn't have not one rattle on our van, Now it sounds like its about to fall apart! But, GOD BLESS Everyone and I hope we all get our roads fixed soon.

Posted by nanny444 (anonymous) on February 10, 2010 at 7:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Well, I just finished watching Fox 6 News. Looks like they picked our County over all the other counties with road problems to feature on the program.

Commissioner Mims addressed the issue of money being the main problem and also mentioned the one cent sales tax.

Mims stated that our State Rep. thinks it is a bad time to ask the people for a tax increase. I wonder about a few things here.

Has our Rep. been out on any dirt roads lately to see the conditions people are having to deal with?

Why has the Commission not held a poll asking the PEOPLE their opinion. Of course I don't know how accurate that would be since all voters don't live on dirt roads. Of course the paved roads of the county are also in a sad state of disrepair.

I believe that if something is not done soon our County road system will almost be impassable. Fox did mention that F.E.M.A. was giving one hundred thousand dollars to the county in relief funds. That amount of money is like putting a Band Aid on a person's throat that has been cut compared to what is needed to just get the roads passable again.

A long term solution has to be found if the roads ever get in condition as they should be. More qualified personnel and more equipment is needed and this takes money.

I believe that all roads in this county should be in a condition that anyone could travel them in an ordinary vehicle in most weather conditions. I also believe that given the proper equipment and a sufficient amount of qualified personnel the road dept. could accomplish this. It won't happen overnight because of the sad state our roads are in but it would happen in a reasonable time frame.

The commissioners are faced with a hard task of selling a new tax to the people but they have to put forth an effort.

People are going to have to be convinced that the money will go to roads and bridges and nothing else.

People are going to have to be convinced that the points system will be fairly used by the Engineer and the commissioners will not play the buddy system of designating road and bridge projects.

I think publishing a monthly report of all finances of the road dept. would also be a selling factor for a new tax.

I could think of a lot of ways to convince the people a new tax is needed but I am not a commissioner nor do I desire to be one.

Do I think the people can be convinced by the commissioners to buy in to a new tax? That I think depends on how the commissioners handle the situation.

As I have stated before, the one thing which I am reasonably sure is that if something doesn't change quick we all had better purchase 4x4's and some grading equipment. That or move somewhere else and I done got too old to pull up roots.

Posted by 67MUSTANGGT (anonymous) on February 10, 2010 at 7:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Jessicapayne, you brought to light a problem that has existed for a long time. And your family is part of that problem...Calling a commissioner about a road problem. There is a county engineer there to handle those problems. Call Tony. If you talk to Tony, himself, and can't get a satisfactory answer, then go to a commission meeting, sign in and be heard publicly, across the floor. You are "sounding" like one of those people who doesn't know how to, or is afraid to, handle issues properly. Sounds like you are part of the frustration and problem the engineer faces daily. If the commissioners would stay OUT of Tony's hair, stop, (calling him and telling him to pull men off of a project to go fix something for Billy Bob's uncle's granfather, Goober, cause he can't drive around a pothole on a dirt road), then MAYBE, Tony could formulate a plan, lay out work needs by the priorities of public safety.

This road issue is NOT indigenous to Chilton County's dirt roads right now. Our rain totals are far ABOVE average. It rains every third day. Since December 5th, I have taken my sunglasses off of my rearview mirror and worn them 5 times. I have had to put my truck in 4X4 high to cross the creek in my pasture every day since Dec 5th. I haven't used 4X4 that much in the 11 years I have had this blue mule.

Bob Riley had prayer vigils for the summers of 06,07, and 08. Blame him, and all of us Christians who prayed for rain. It's our fault for praying and God's fault for delivering! Deal with it! On second thought, have your po ole granpappy call Tim and tell him to tell GOD to knock it off, cause he's making opinions1 watch soft porn--men standing around with their fingers in strange places!

I remember the summer of 1973. County Road 7 was dirt. It was so muddy in July, we couldn't get to highway 31 because of the mud. We were stranded. The bridge was being rebuilt and there was no other way to get to town. It was bad. The county had their ONE D-9 Caterpillar Dozier stuck in a mudhole for a month, within sight of our front yard. We had some really bad Tornados that year. That was bad. These potholes, and a few washed roads is NOTHING! I remember school buses being stuck on dirt roads for five and six hours in the fall of 1979. Hurricane Frederick dumped a lot of water here. That fall roads were bad. This is just history repeating itself. A broke county, bad weather, and morons calling county commissioners whining about dirt roads.

If you're not happy on a dirt road, MOVE! If the road is rough, SLOW DOWN! Common sense will go a LONG way!
GOD BLESS your precious heart.

Posted by jessicapayne (anonymous) on February 10, 2010 at 10:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

we don't care about the issues of the 70 this is 2010 things have came a long way and if they would fix things the right way instead of halfway just to say they've tried it would be different. It dosen't matter how slow you drive either when the entire road is one big pot hole.

Posted by sassychic1 (anonymous) on February 11, 2010 at 10:59 p.m.

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

Posted by sassychic1 (anonymous) on February 11, 2010 at 11:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)

my education should not be an issue or what car i drive.The roads were the issue.

Posted by ldenn2 (anonymous) on February 12, 2010 at 10:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Was that road paved when you moved there? If it was who moved it? If it has not been removed you knew that when you moved out there. The first thing you city slickers want is a street light, then city water, police protection. and a paved road. Why didn't you stay where you had all that?